UNA-USA, WESTCHESTER CHAPTER

Details of the Presentation

Summary of the ProjectWhile this program was designed for third-grade classes, the presentation can be adapted to any elementary-school level or, with adjustments and additions, upgraded for middle-school. The basic objective is to introduce students to the concepts of the United Nations and peace and to present some examples of issues the UN addresses beyond its basic goal of peace-making.

Each class is normally taught by two volunteers. The materials used in our presentation are:

One poster board [link 1] (see details below) with pictures of the UN Secretariat, the General Assembly with delegates, the Secretary-General, the SG greeting the US President, the UN flag, flags of the members, the six official languages, and UN peacekeepers;

One poster board [link 2] illustrating two areas of UN activity – refugees and water supply;

Sheets of drawing paper, one per student with a few extras;

Boxes of crayons (suggested: Crayola boxes of 24), enough to share one box between two students, with a few extra in case they are needed;

Gifts of UN flags, poster of flags of member states, or other gift relating to the UN.

A note about the model offered here

A suggested script of the presentation has been prepared, but it is not intended to be adhered to word for word. It serves as a structure to follow and an overview of the topics to cover, but each presenter can find his or her own words to convey the message effectively. Anyone choosing to make a presentation such as this is encouraged to be creative and find the approach that suits them best. The bottom line is to give the students a basic understanding of the United Nations and the concept of peace.

While our program was designed for using two picture boards as a springboard for discussion, the information may also be adapted for a power point presentation. The latter option may be easier in some situations to adopt and execute. The physical boards, while requiring more work to assemble, do enable a direct, face-to-face connection with the students and provide for a lively discussion that the children relate to well.

Classroom presentation

Our experience has shown that giving the presentation to an individual classroom (rather than combined classes) engenders the best interest and participation from the students. The classroom teacher may follow the proceedings and even contribute to them, but this is not necessary. It is important, however, for the teacher to be present in the room, to keep order and give individual attention to the children’s needs as they may arise.

Part 1 of the presentation tells the class who we are, explains the term “United Nations” and gives a brief history of how it began. It is helpful to have a chalk board nearby in order to write key words such as “United,” “Nations” and (later) “refugees.”

Part 2 focuses on the large picture board, which elicits lively interest from the students. The children enjoy guessing how many countries are in the UN, seeing all the delegates seated together in the General Assembly, and identifying the six official languages. [Two suggestions in this regard: Since the exact number of countries will not likely be guessed, it helps maintain the flow to take only 4 or 5 guesses before revealing the number. Second, if your board includes flags of all the countries, it is advisable not to start a discussion of them until the end of the class, as excitement over the flags tends to distract from the other points you want to cover.]

Part 3, in which students are invited to identify countries their families come from, works well in a class with diverse backgrounds. If your class is largely homogeneous, or if they are unlikely to be able to identify their countries of ancestry (as is the case with many African Americans), or if the class is too large to hear from everyone, this section can be skipped or altered to suit the circumstances.

Part 4 allows the students to use what they know to verbalize the consequences of war and benefits of peace. The children will have good ideas to offer.

Part 5 builds on the topic of war and its consequences in order to understand the specific problem of refugees. Since this is a new term for many children, it is helpful to write it on the board. The concept comes alive by discussing what might be the situation of the girl in front of a burnt-out building. The students tend to feel empathy with the girl, and with some prompting, they can think of all the needs such a child would have. At the end of this section, they will understand this important service provided by the United Nations. (Refugees are served by UNHCR, a specialized agency of the UN, but it is not important to enter into this distinction.)

Part 6 focuses on another goal of the UN: clean water. Again, the picture is used as a springboard for discussion of the conditions in the parts of the world without running water. Students are asked to think of all the uses of water in a household, what they go through to obtain water, who carries it (including why the girls are not in school), and the difficulty and importance of finding clean water.

The purpose of Part 7 is to associate the concept of peace-making with the students’ own lives. Fighting on the playground or in their neighborhoods is common to most of the children, and can be an illustration of how difficult it can be to keep peace. The discussion may be directed toward an approach to conflict resolution in brief form – identifying the source of conflict and finding common ground – but it is not intended to oversimplify the issue. Ideas contributed by the students will reflect their experiences, which can range from “call a teacher” to “just walk away and don’t fight” to recounting a conflict scenario they may have witnessed. The presenters need to be prepared for whatever direction the discussion takes and plan to lead it back to an analogy with the efforts of the United Nations to keep peace in the world.

Part 8 of our program is a period, usually 40 to 45 minutes, in which the students are given the opportunity to create original drawings conveying what peace would look like to them. They may feature one of the themes we have discussed, or draw a scene of their own imagining. The possibilities are unlimited, and we emphasize that they may choose anything as long as it gives a message of peace. The drawings often show children playing together or helping each other. Sometimes the students put in dialogue to make a point. We encourage them to take their drawings home and tell their parents what they talked about in the class.

Gifts for the classroom

You may like to bring mementos for the classroom to keep. Our custom has been to present a small UN flag (which can be ordered online through the UN gift shop) and a poster of flags of the United Nations (ordered online from the UN Bookstore). When the project was new, we gifted each classroom with a book produced by UNICEF called Children Just Like Me, which beautifully illustrates the lives of children in all parts of the world. The question of gifts may be determined by your budget.

- 2nd poster board(Link2): Elmer foam board #950-884 sky blue 20x30 by 3/16 1800 879 4868www.sturdyboard.com, with the title "Peace makes the world a better place."Photographs for the second poster board:

Girl in front of burned building and tent (used in discussing the topic of refugees [link 14]

Children carrying water - UN Water for Life Decade, 2005-2015 (for the topic of water [link 15]

Children around the globe - dove cutouts (created by an art teacher [link 16]

C. Crayola crayons –suggested: boxes of 24, passed out to the students to share 2 to a box where possible and returned at the end of the class. Before next use, boxes need to be checked for broken or missing crayons, which may be replaced from a general supply. For this purpose, it is useful to have extra boxes of basic colors to supplement the ones most often broken or overused.